Welcome to Facts, not fantasy. This is a "learning node" of the internet where we try to clear up some misconceptions and lies that are going around about vaccines and evolution. Click on the main item of interest (Vaccines or Evolution) and you should find a list of "points" that you are free to use (or research). All we ask is that you link back to this page if you use anything from it.
Thank you for visiting.

Facts, not Fantasy

Amazon Contextual Product Ads

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Anti-vax pro-disease nutters make people sick

Anti-vaxers seem to have a problem with reality. Even when you give them real, hard data. So, I just wanted to put these two links up. basically, because these nutters want to go against reality, people are getting sick from preventable diseases. Not only sick, but infants are DYING as well...

This is one of the scariest graphs I’ve seen in a long time.
This plot, from the CDC, shows probable and confirmed cases of
pertussis – whooping cough – in the state of Washington from 2011
through June 2012. Last year’s numbers are the short, light-blue-grey
rectangles, and this year’s are the dark blue. The plot is by week, so
you can see the 2011 numbers slowly growing across the year; then this
year’s numbers suddenly taking a huge leap upward. They are reporting
the new rate as 13 times larger than last year. Note
that 83% of these cases have been confirmed as being pertussis, while
17% are probable. The drop in recent weeks is due to a lag in complete
reporting of cases.
Got that? There are 13 times as many people – more than 2500 in total so far – getting pertussis right now as there were last year at this time in Washington.

Not only did the Bad Astronomer have this to post, but Steve Salzberg was the original poster that Dr. Plait generated his post from. Of course, the source material was from the CDC, which thanks to nutters is having a hard time on that last C in their name...

Anti-vaccination propagandists help create the worst whooping cough epidemic in 70 years

The great northwest of the U.S. is known for its natural beauty.It's
also a high-tech region with a highly educated public - not exactly the
kind of place one would expect to fall for the anti-science rhetoric of
the anti-vaccine movement.

But it has. The anti-vaxxers have convinced a
frighteningly high number of parents in Washington State to withhold
vaccines from their children. A story in The Seattle Times last year reported that

"Washington [state] parents are choosing not to
vaccinate their kindergartners at a rate higher than anywhere else in
the country."

This despite the fact that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
(formed by the founder of Microsoft, which is headquartered in Seattle)
is one of the world's leading sponsors of vaccine research.

When the vaccination rates drop, everyone becomes more vulnerable to
infectious diseases. When more than 90% of the population is
vaccinated, we have "herd immunity" - this means the disease can't
spread because there aren't enough susceptible people in the community.
So the high rate of vaccine refusal in Washington makes it easier for
whooping cough (and other diseases) to spread.

The media has been complicit in spreading some of anti-vaccine
misinformation. Sometimes it comes straight from the media itself, such
as the credulous, anti-science, anti-vax CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson. Other times it comes from talk shows, magazines, or even airline advertisements that provide a platform for anti-vax celebrity doctors such as Jay Gordon (who gained fame as Jenny McCarthy's son's doctor) and "Dr. Bob" Sears, who has published his own "alternative" vaccine schedule in a book filled with anti-vaccine nonsense.
These characters continue to claim, at every chance they get, that
vaccines cause autism (as Gordon has said, repeatedly), or that they
cause other harms, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. They
use their medical degrees and their faux concern "for the children" to
frighten parents into keeping their kids unvaccinated.